Match Page - Match Info

Yorkshire Carnegie will travel to London Irish’s Madejski Stadium for the second leg of the Greene King IPA Championship Final on Wednesday 24th May and we are offering return travel from Leeds for £25 per person.

Because the cricket One Day International is taking place at Headingley that day, the coach will depart from Kirkstall Training Ground on Wednesday 24th May at 1.30pm with a stop en route. Travel can be purchased over the phone on 0371 423 1315, online by clicking here or by coming down to the Leeds Rugby Store at Headingley Carnegie Stadium.
Tickets must be purchased directly from London Irish

For ticket prices please see table below. Seniors are 65 and over. To book your tickets, all fans will need to book via London Irish’s ticket office on 0118 968 1016 or on their web site, www.london-irish.com The ticket office is open Monday-Friday 9am-5pm & Saturday 9am-12noon. Gates open at 6.15pm on the day of the game.

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London Irish 55 Yorkshire Carnegie 48

24th May 20179:44 pmBy Phil Daly

Yorkshire Carnegie’s dream of returning to the Aviva Premiership was dashed in a points feast at the Madejski Stadium as big spending London Irish returned to the top flight at the first time of asking with an 18 point win on aggregate.

It may not have been a mountain that Yorkshire Carnegie had to climb going into the second but it was certainly a very sizeable hill and their task was made even harder inside the first 90 seconds when they conceded the opening try of the game. The visitors, trailing by eleven points from the first leg, made a mess of receiving the kick off and from the ensuing scrum centre Ciaran Hearn went through a gap to score. Tommy Bell missed the conversion attempt but his side now led by sixteen points on aggregate.

Yorkshire needed to find a response quickly and they did just that when Chris Elder latched onto an error by Irish in midfield before breaking clear. He was hauled down but managed to get the ball away to Seb Stegmann, who eluded the last defender to stretch out and score. Joe Ford edged his side in front on the night with the conversion and cut the aggregate deficit to single digits.

Carnegie were then awarded a penalty at a scrum 20 metres out and Ford cut the gap even further to just six points.

However, the visitors were there own worst enemy after that as they gifted Irish another try from an error deep in their own territory. This time scrum half Brendan McKibbin went through a gap to score after Alex Davies had kicked out on the full and Bell added the conversion to put his side 12-10 in front.

Once again Carnegie hit back and it was Mike Mayhew who produced another break against his former club to score for the second consecutive week as the hooker galloped over from 20 metres out. Ford added the conversion to give his team a 17-12 lead.

Carnegie had to defend their line manfully after that and forced an error from Irish on the try line with a crunching tackle by Michael Cusack however eventually the pressure was turned into points by the home side but in controversial circumstances. The try for centre Fergus Mulchrone was referred to the television match official who, despite replays suggesting hooker David Paice had blocked Ryan Burrows from getting to the scorer, awarded the score. Bell added the conversion and a subsequent penalty to put his side 22-17 in front.

On the stroke of half time, Ford kicked a penalty to put the result back in the balance at 22-20 at the interval.

Just as in the first half, Carnegie suffered a huge blow at the start of the second half but conceding another early try. Having cleared their lines, Irish took a quick line out and moved the ball to winger Alex Lewington who danced his way around five would be tacklers to score between the posts. Bell’s conversion stretched the home side’s aggregate lead to twenty points.

Worse was to come for Bryan Redpath’s side as they conceded two more quick tries for McKibbin and Lewington, Bell converted both to put his side into a winning position.

Irish were reduced to 14 men soon after when back row Mike Coman was sin binned for taking Jonah Holmes out in the air. Carnegie made the possession count as Ben West went over after taking Davies short pass near the line. Ford added the conversion but it was a consolation score for the visitors at that stage.

Bell kept the scoreboard ticking over for Irish whilst there were down to 14 men with two penalties, the latter coming after Lewis Boyce was shown a yellow card for a late challenge on Irish fly half James Marshall.

The game suffered a sour note with ten minutes to go when props Ben Franks for Irish and Charlie Beech for Carnegie were shown red cards after sparking a brawl near the touchline.

Carnegie were then awarded a penalty try in the corner, with Irish forward Tom Court was the latest player to go to the bin.

Carnegie gained another try from their next possession as prop Sione Faletau crossed for a try in his final game for the club. Ford added the conversion to make it 55-41 on the night.

Yorkshire then scored their best try of the night, set up by a move by Stegmann, supported by Richard Mayhew before Ford put Stegmann over for the try. Ford converted himself to cut the gap on the night to a converted try at 55-48 with five minutes to play.